Hybrid Integrated Circuits (HICs) often include active chips, such as Integrated Circuit (IC) chips, or some other electronic and other type of active or passive elements (or devices) which during the operation either generate heat or are subjected to heat generated by other elements of the HIC or the environment. Some of the elements may be susceptible to damage due to this heat, e.g. separation of an element from a support base, fracture of the element, fracture of conductors connecting the element to the support base, changes in operation characteristics, and the like.
To remove the heat from the individual elements of the HIC, at least some of the elements, prone to be affected by the heat, may be selectively provided with a "heat sink" of a high heat conductivity metal to pick up and transfer the heat away from the element.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,220 proposes a heat-dissipator (heat-sink) structure including top and bottom plates interconnected by an intermediate section, which structure is formed so as to be slidably mounted on an IC package which is in turn mounted on a support base, such as a printed circuit board. The top plate is resiliently connected and may contact a heat spreader plate which may be common to a number of such heat-sinks. However, with further miniaturization and automation of manufacture and assembly, such a mechanically secured heat-sink may prove difficult to use.
It is, thus, desirable to provide HICs in which a heat-sink is secured to a chip or device so as to form a unitized assembly. It is also important that the structure exhibits a minimum of stress during changes in temperature.